Geneva

I just finished reading a thread on this board about how everyone is
craving more discussion, more posting of photos for open ended
consideration of expression, ect. So I thought this would be the
perfect time to post this. When I look at it, I see a troubled little
baby (that mostly comes from the eyes and the tugging at the sleeve)
in a dark house lighted by the light of the outside world. Maybe I
just see that because I know the girl and the family, that her mother
was 17 when she was born, that she will probably never meet her
father, and that her uncle was selling drugs out of her grandmother's
house where they all lived. When I post it I get "nice shot of a cute
kid." What I'm wondering is if there is anything to all of that or if
it is just personal sentiment and my own reflections.

http://apt131.com/lj/geneva.jpg

Part of our psychological makeup seem to allow us to project very different interpretations onto an image, depending on what other information we have to hand, including context, or backround knowledge. I suppose this is what Duchamp exploited with "Fountain" a real mens urinal. In the context of a gallery its meaning changed from its meaning when it was in a toilet, which was something to keep the floor dry :)

With the photo you posted, I think her expression has a lot of scope for interpretation. Had you said she was mischievous, and had just been caught doing something naughty, we may have seen the twinkle in her eye, and the 'butter wouldn't melt in her mouth' look. After reading what you said though, I found the picture did look quite melancholy to me.

It is very much a blank canvas, you paint your own story. A little like the smile on the Mona Lisa, if we all thought she was thinking the same thing, would we keep going back to her?

My first reponse before reading your text was "she's smiling." Her expression kept flipping for me from "detatched" to "smiling" depending on where on her face my eyes fell. I think it's the right corner of her mouth that is smiling to me, and that's where my eyes end up.

My friend is writing a book, editing it now actually. I have been helping her rewrite some chapters, and there's something she passed along from one of her book writing seminars that has stayed with me: "Don't tell them, show them." In other words, don't write "She felt sad." Instead write "Her hands dropped to her sides as she slipped to the floor." I feel this image doesn't "show" what you're "telling." But that is not a critique, and naturally everyone else will have a different opinion. But that's my personal reponse.

Rick